CARTSNEWS

CARTSNEWS

The Official Journal of the Carolina Token Society

ISSUE #21 February 2009

WHAT’S

HAPPENING?

E ight people attended the November CARTS
meeting in Statesville. As is always the case
your editor was able to add to his collection; and
sell a few items. And there was also good
conversation with lots of knowledge exchanged.
Does it get much better?

Treasurer Bob King reported that we finished the
year with $273.21 in the bank. If you happen to be
among those who have not yet paid dues, you will
find a reminder with this newsletter. Please pay
now so that you’ll continue to get the newsletter.

Our next meeting will be in Hendersonville on May
30. We will be at the Ramada Limited on Sugarloaf
Road which is off Highway 64 East, at exit 49 of 1-26.

Detailed directions to the location will be given in the
May newsletter.

Contact Information:

Don Bailey

PO Box 1272

Etowah, NC 28729

e-mail: ELADON@BRINET.COM

Tony Chibbaro

PO Box 420

Prosperity, SC 29217

e-mail: CHIBBARO@MINDSPRING.COM

Bob King

709 Cardinal Dr.

Brevard, NC 28712

e-mail: TOKENADDICT@CITCOM.NET

Comments, suggestions, reactions, (maybe even)
criticism, will be gratefully accepted. Let us know!

Articles, New Finds, Announcements, and Classifieds
to Don Bailey only! Dues to Bob King only!

PRESIDENT’S

REPORT

W ell, another year is upon us. It’s hard to
believe that we’re almost through the
first decade of the 21st century, but here we
are. I hope that 2008 was a good one for your
collecting pursuits, if not your 401-K. I know
that I added about 50 South Carolina trade
tokens to my collection. That qualifies as an
outstanding year for me. I hope that 2009
proves to be just as good.

The month of February is the start of coin
show season in the Carolinas. Coin shows are
to be held in Charleston (Feb. 6-8), Charlotte
(Feb. 13-15), and Spartanburg (Feb. 27-Mar.
1), as well as a bottle show in Columbia (Feb.
20-21). I hope to see you all at one of those
venues.

Our treasurer has reminded me to make a plea
for membership dues. Ten dollars will keep
this newsletter coming to you, as well as the
opportunity to meet with like-minded
collectors at our semi-annual meetings. Please
take the time to send a dues check to Bob King
today. His address appears opposite.

Also note that CARTS will be hosting our
usual spring meeting in May. See elsewhere
in this issue for details.

Regards,

Tony Chibbaro
President, of CARTS

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UNION

SOUTH CAROLINA WANTED

POSTCARDS, TOKENS, PAPER MONEY

William M. Graham
106 Hidden Hills Road, Union, SC 29379
864-427-9560 864-429-1260

"Venice in Carolina"

Tony Chibbaro

Many of you may know of my interest in the
Charleston Exposition - the would-be world’s fair
held in Charleston, SC in 1901 and 1902. While I
have many different pieces of exonumia issued and
sold at the fair, including admission tickets,
employee passes, so-called dollars, award medals,
encased cents, elongated cents, and celluloid
badges, I have never encountered any trade tokens
- that is until recently. I had long thought the
chances were high that some type of “good for”
token would eventually come to light, perhaps an
admission token or even a ride token issued by the
miniature railroad which snaked its way over the
grounds. And I believe I was proved right by a
pair of tokens I recently acquired from a Virginia
coin dealer. While I cannot prove beyond a
shadow of a doubt that the tokens were used in
Charleston, I can show that they were issued by
one of the Midway concessions that itself moved

from exposition to exposition and set up for
business at the fair in Charleston.

Photograph of gondolas and canal
at Venice in America concession,

1901 Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, NY

Venice in America was one of a number of
“ethnically-oriented” concessions which plied their
wares at the expositions of the early 20th century.
Two others, among many, were Fair Japan and the
Streets of Cairo. All three featured architecture
reminiscent of their particular geographical

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namesake, as well as employees dressed in
regional garb, and, of course, ethnic cuisine. The
Venice in America concession also featured
gondola rides meant to remind fairgoers of the
picturesque canals of the quaint Italian city. The
concession had a large presence at the 1901 Pan-
American Exposition in Buffalo, NY as well as at
the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. The Charleston
Exposition opened right on the heels of the Pan-
American Expo and many of the concession
owners at the Buffalo venue simply packed up and
moved to the more southerly clime when things
closed down in New York. Venice in America
made the move to Charleston, and so did Fair
Japan, the Streets of Cairo, and Roltair's Darkness
& Dawn.

Photograph of Venice in America Restaurant and
employees,

1901-02 Charleston Exposition, Charleston, SC

Pictured below is one of two tokens I recently
obtained from the Venice in America concession.
The second token (not pictured) is similar in style
and inscription but features a 10 (cents)
denomination on a 24mm aluminum planchet.

VENICE IN AMERICA / 25 / RESTAURANT // 25 -
R, Al, 29mm.

I believe the pair of tokens was most probably
issued for use in Buffalo at the restaurant that was
part of the Venice in American concession at the
Pan-American Expo. However, I also believe that

it is likely they were used subsequently in
Charleston. I stated earlier that the Venice in
America concession moved from Buffalo to
Charleston at the closing of the Pan-American
Expo on November 2, 1901. It is not a long stretch
of the imagination to believe that the tokens made
the trip to Charleston along with all the other
restaurant paraphernalia for the opening there just
one month later. It sure would be nice for some
relic hunter to dig up one of these tokens in
downtown Charleston. That would certainly prove
me right about matters, but until then I think I've
made a pretty good argument for their inclusion in
a collection of South Carolina tokens or Charleston
Expo memorabilia.

NEW FINDS FROM
SOUTH CAROLINA

Tony Chibbaro

Two new finds comprise the entries into this
issue’s column, both from drug stores and both
courtesy of eBay. The first one hails from Sumter
and appeared on eBay back in the late fall. The
inscription on the 29mm scalloped aluminum token
reads: SIBERT'S DRUG STORE / W.W. SIBERT,
/ PROPR. / SUMTER, S.C. // GOOD FOR ONE /
5 / CENT (on ribbon across numeral) / CIGAR OR
SODA. It is the first token known from this issuer.

W.W. Sibert first appeared in the mercantile
directories in 1905, in partnership with G.M.
Sibert, operating Sibert's Drug Store. That was the
only year that G.M. Sibert appeared in the listings.
W.W. Sibert is shown as a sole proprietor in all
subsequent years. The venture was certainly a
long-lived business, as listings for the drug store
appeared well into the 1950s. (I would estimate
that the token was issued around 1910, however.)
It is interesting to note that the last name

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occasionally appeared as Siebert or Seibert, but
usually the spelling was the same as that on the
token.

The second token featured in this issue is also the
only example presently known from its issuer. It
appeared on eBay in January of 2009. The
inscription on the 24mm brass token is as follows:
SPRINGFIELD DRUG CO. / SPRINGFIELD, /
S.C. // GOOD FOR / 50 / DRINK OR CIGAR.

The Springfield Drug Company was in existence
from 1909 through 1921. It was not in business as
long as the Sibert's Drug Store token described
above, but a dozen years is respectable for a small
town which always featured two or three drug
stores in competition with each other. In fact,
competitive business practices may be the very
reason the token was issued in the first place.
Drug store soda tokens were often given away as a
type of “loss leader”, a means to entice potential
customers to come into the store and, while there
enjoying the free soda, have an opportunity to
peruse and hopefully purchase other merchandise.
Tokens from two other drug stores in Springfield
are also known - Clark’s Pharmacy and Clark &
Jumper’s Drug Store.

I DON’T HAVE A
NICKLE, BUT I’VE GOT
A DUKIE

Lamar Bland

John Jordan often heard such an exclamation as a 7
year old boy in Saxapahaw Mill village in 1943
North Carolina. The “Dukie’ would have looked
like the one below, perhaps just as weathered,
since it had probably been carried in the bib pocket
of overalls.

In Red on Yellow background the “Dukie” reads:
GOOD FOR 5 CENTS IN TRADE AT SAXAPAHAW
STORE COMPANY

The child was excited because the “Dukie” could
be used as cash for treats in the Saxapahaw Mill
store. Or, if the child were lucky enough to be
driven into Burlington, 15 miles up a country road,
it could be used in Sellars Department Store, or
even at a movie theater. The child may not have
known why he called it a “Dukie.” Even today
four of the men who remember them from that
time cannot explain the source of the name. Those
men are John and Ben Jordan, sons of mill owner
B. Everett Jordan, and Ben Bulla, treasurer for the
company for many years. The fourth man is Kent
Miller, the 91 year old owner of this “Dukie”, who
worked in the store.

Kent Miller stands at the front entrance of the
original Saxapahaw Store building

“Dukie’s” were sold in $1 packets in this building
- to mill workers, by store owner/operators JR
(“Dad”) Baber and daughter Connie Baber
Williams. They could buy an assortment of things
needed by mill families: work clothes, boots,
groceries, and other basic goods for the home.
They were also used for activities more offensive
to “Dad” Baber. When he learned that workers
were gambling with them, perhaps in one of the
many checkers games played in the village, the

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religious Baber reportedly said: “George
Washington is on the $ 1 bill; I don’t want my
money used for gambling.”

Exactly when these coupons (formally called scrip)
were first introduced is not certain. Ben Jordan
believes they were needed locally because there
were no banks in Saxapahaw, and because during
the Depression few people had cars for banking in
Burlington. The need was heightened when those
banks began closing during the early 1930’s. Kent
Miller remembers seeing them during the six years
of his employment from 1937 to 1943. They were
no longer needed when economic recovery began
after World War II. As John Jordan put it, “If you
had money, you didn’t need Dukies.”

The following photograph of Ben and John Jordan
shows a wall of the store’s interior where “Dukies”
would have been distributed. The Jordans are on
either side of the painting showing their father
Everett when he was a U.S senator from North
Carolina. The other photograph (of three men)
pictures Kent Miller, John Jordan, and Ben Bulla,
company treasurer beginning in 1940. Bulla
subsequently wrote Textiles and Politics: the Life
ofB. Everett Jordan, which provides rich historical
detail about the Saxapahaw culture.

John and Ben Jordan

Kent, John, and Ben Bulla

The Saxapahaw Mill store was typical of the
company stores which mill owners across the
South built. During the 1930’s, the legal
workweek was 60 hours. Working on weekends
could be required as well, leaving little time for
discretionary shopping. Often, too, the packets of
scrip, sold at a small discount, promoted local use.
However, the company store played a more
dominant role in this village’s life than most
because of its remote location. When the mill was
built is uncertain, though original operations began
when John Newlin, a Quaker, started spinning and
weaving here in 1844. The village culture existed
on both sides of the Haw River by the time Everett
Jordan drove his Ford down a dirt road in 1927 to
buy the then run-down operation from White -
Williamson and Company. The store building
rested on the high side of the river-banks,
overlooking the factory buildings beside the Haw.
All three are still there today.

The Brick Store Structure

Saxapahaw Mill Buildings beside the Haw
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• Thanks to John Jordan for his enthusiastic
help, and for introducing me to Kent and
the two Bens.

• Thanks to Jerrie Nall and Kathy Berry, at
Textile Heritage Museum in Glencoe, for
introducing me to John Jordan.

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NORTH CAROLINA
NEW FINDS

Bob King

The first new find is from Cleveland in Rowan
County. Cleveland was named Cowansville
until 1856 when it was changed to Rowan
Mills. In 1884 the name was changed to Third
Creek. In 1887 the name was changed to
Cleveland.

R.M. ROSEBRO & SON / 5 / CLEVELAND, N.C. //
(BLANK) - RD AL 31 Rare

R.M. Rosebro & Son are listed from 1910 through
1914 as a general store. R.M. Rosebro appears
again in 1919 as cotton and fertilizer in Cleveland.
Mr. Rosebro had a long lasting general store before
his son joined him in 1910. Mr. Rosebro is first
listed in 1879 as Lucky and Rosebro, a general
store and sawmill at Third Creek. One would think
the listing would be Rowan Mills but obviously the
local people were calling this town Third Creek.
In 1880 the listing is for Lucky, Rosebrough and
Company, a general store. In 1881 the listing is for
R.M. Rosebro and Company, a general store. This
listing continues with various minor differences
until his son joined the business in 1910.

Next a new find from Durham.

-»•<- / B.D. BAKER / / DURHAM, N.C. //

GOOD FOR / 50 / IN MERCHANDISE - OVAL AL
30 X 22 Rare

Benjamin Dewey Baker was born in 1900 and by
1930 he owned a bakery in Sanford, NC. The
bakery continued in Sanford through 1940. If one
assumes he worked from 18 years of age he should
have been in Durham sometime from 1918 until
before 1930. Mr. Baker doesn’t show on any NC
Business Directories or Durham City Directories
during this time. His business was probably on
one of the rural routes out of the Durham Post
Office. More research is forthcoming.

And finally a High Point piece that appears to be
from the period 1890 to 1910.

PRESCRIPTIONS A SPECIALTY, / (3 STARS) /
MATTON’S / DRUG. (ORN) / (ORN) STORE, /
HIGH POINT, N.C. / (3 STARS) // GOOD FOR A /
(STAR) 50 (STAR) / DRINK AT / MATTON’S /
FOUNTAIN. - RD AL 25 Rare

George A. Matton owned a drug business from
1885 through 1932 listed as follows: 1885-1892
Brown & Matton, drugs; 1893-1906 George A.
Matton, drugs; 1907-1932 Matton Drug Company

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NORTH CAROLINA TOKEN BOOK-STATUS

I apologize to those who are upset that I haven’t finished the North Carolina Token Book. I want
everyone to know that progress is being made daily and there are good reasons that it is not
finished. Most important to me is that I haven’t refused information on any token to anyone
when requested and it is important for everyone to know that I never intended to do a book, so I
wasn’t prepared to complete one. When I started, my intention was to make a catalog/listing of
all NC Tokens known to me and other collectors that would share their list. The more progress I
made on the catalog the clearer it became to me that I wasn’t proud of the book that would result.
As time progressed I was ashamed of that effort and I started on my current effort to make a
book that would give information on each token listed. Since this effort began I have spent over
$10,000.00 on research materials and over $8000.00 on computer software and cameras. The
good news is that I am very proud of the book as it stands and taking pictures of the tokens is in
progress. I never promised to stop collecting in order to complete a book and I won’t do that. So,
the bottom line is that it is coming along well and nobody wants it completed more than me.

Bob King, 709 Cardinal Dr, Brevard, NC 28712 828-883-8028 tokenaddict@citcom.net

CLASSIFIED ADS

FOR SALE/TRADE

ROY BYRD (ACCOMAC COUNTY, VA) 5 DIFFERENT CARDBOARD PICKER
CHITS 1,2, 5,10 & 20 QUARTS. $10.00 & SASE. Insurance +$ 1.65. Steven Kawalec Box
4281 Clifton, NJ 07012.

FOR SALE OR TRADE: NEW, UNUSED COPY OF RULAU, STANDARD
CATALOGUE OF UNITED STATES TOKENS: 1700-1900. 4th edition/2004. 1,200 pages.
Prefer to trade for an NC token in $ 25-40 range. But will consider dollars. You pay book
postage: $ 4. Lamar Bland, blandl@elon.edu or 919-383-6514.

FOR SALE: MILL OPERATIVE'S LIFELONG CAREER. Group of seven employee
service pins from Spindale Mills, Inc. of Spindale, NC. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 year lapel
pins. Enameled and gold-filled. $95.00 postpaid. Tony Chibbaro, PO Box 420, Prosperity, SC
29127 chibbaro@mindspring.com

WANTED

WANT EVERYTHING FROM AMES, IA; BOONE, IA; MADRID, IA; VISALIA, CA;

AND COLORADO. John Kent, 6545 Northwind Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, (719)
534-0455, tokent7@hotmail.com .

WANT TO BUY YOUR TOKENS INCLUDING MAVERICKS. One is fine with me Give
me a call or e-mail and I will send a stamped, self addressed mailer with a check. Bob King, 709
Cardinal Dr, Brevard, NC 28712 828-883-8028 tokenaddict@citcom.net

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CARTS Membership and Dues: Membership in CARTS is open to anyone interested in the
exonumia of the two Carolinas. Annual dues are $10.00 and should be mailed to the treasurer,
Bob King. Checks should be made payable to CARTS.

CARTSNEWS: CARTSNEWS, the newsletter of CARTS, is published four times per year in
February, May, August, and November.

Advertising: Each member is encouraged to submit one classified ad per issue. These ads are
free to members. Free ads should be no more than 50 words in length. No ads will be run
continuously; a new ad must be submitted for each issue. The editor reserves the right to edit ads
for length and any ad thought not to be in the best interest of the hobby will be rejected.

Paid advertising is also solicited. The rate per issue for paid ads is as follows. One
quarter page $3.00, one half page $6.00, and full page $11.00. Any paid advertising, along with
payment, should be sent to the editor by the fifteenth of that month before the month of issue.
So, for example, advertising copy for the May issue should be received by the editor by April 15.
Camera ready copy will be accepted, but the editor will also compose ads from your rough copy
if you desire. As with free advertising the editor may reject any ad thought not in the best
interest of CARTS or the hobby at large.

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